Shutting the office over Christmas may 'offend'
Employers have been warned that shutting the office over Christmas or putting up religious decorations could be seen as discriminatory by non-Christian staff. But organisations which must stay open should not worry about making Christians work during the religious holiday. The remarks come from the Employers Forum on Belief in a new publication, Christmas – [...]
Bigotry at work doesn’t count as banter
Clear guidance for employers and staff is needed to banish sectarianism for the workplace according to a new report. The report by Strathclyde University academics for the STUC said firms should be also legally required to monitor sectarian incidents at work, and wanted "clear guidance" on not dismissing prejudiced comments as workplace banter or humour. [...]
Bookshop staff face losing jobs
Staff at a Christian bookshop are facing the threat of redundancy in the run-up to Christmas. The former Church of Scotland bookshop in Edinburgh’s George Street could close with the loss of ten jobs after the company which took it over was put up for sale. Christian bookshop chain Wesley Owen, which has six shops [...]
Wesley Owen faces closure as IBS-STL decides to ‘exit the business’
The Bible Society has called for urgent consultation over the future of Christian bookshops, after Monday’s announcement by the Christian book distributor and Bible charity IBS-STL that it is to sell its UK operations. They include the 40 Wesley Owen bookshops. The company said that financial problems, alongside supply and ser-vice difficulties in its distribution [...]
Scottish Church urges parishes to go online
A joint initiative between the Catholic Church in Scotland and ISYS Computer Services a Glasgow based IT company will be launched next week urging all of Scotland’s 500 parishes to go online. In collaboration with "ISYS Computer Services" the Church agreed a template package, which would allow any parish to quickly establish and maintain a [...]
Church considering cheap loans to help unemployed people realise their potential
The Kirk is considering using a business model pioneered in the third world to tackle poverty in Scotland. It is investigating the merits of investing in a company which will give low-interest loans to unemployed people who want to start up their own businesses. The so-called micro credit scheme, successfully used in Bangladesh, would benefit [...]
Floating ambulance will help the needy
Macduff Shipyards are completing one of their more unusual challenges – building an ambulance. More than that, the ambulance – actually a boat – has to come apart to fit into a container for its journey of thousands of miles to a great lake in the heart of Africa, in Malawi. An engineer from Africa [...]
Church demands justice for redundant workers
A Church of Scotland council has demanded an increase in the level of redundancy pay for workers losing their jobs because of the credit crunch. Reverend Ian Galloway, convener of the Kirk’s Church and Society Council, has written to every Scottish MP urging them to back Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle’s Private Member’s Bill in the [...]
Christian legal experts warn against Islamic finance
The British Government will be capitulating to Islamic religious law if they change the current financial regulations to accommodate sharia finance and issue Islamic or ‘sukuk’ bonds, warn Christian Concern for our Nation and the Christian Legal Centre. The Government has publicised its support for Islamic or shariah compliant finance and has stated its intention [...]
Scotland perfectly positioned to cash in on Islamic financial products
Scotland’s proud tradition of investment management makes it ideally placed to cash in on the multi-billion pound potential in the growing demand for Islamic financial products, a conference will be told next month. Scotland’s first-ever Islamic investment conference, to take place in Edinburgh, is a joint initiative between Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) and the Glasgow-based [...]
